MACQUARIE MARSHES RAMSAR SITE: Ecological character description – Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve Marshes and U-block components Nature character description – Macquarie RAMSAR SITE: Ecological MARSHES MACQUARIE Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site Ecological character description Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve and U-block components Disclaimer The Office of Environment and Heritage NSW (OEH) has compiled this document in good faith, exercising all due care and attention. OEH does not accept responsibility for any inaccurate or incomplete information supplied by third parties. No representation is made about the accuracy, completeness or suitability of the information in this publication for any particular purpose. Readers should seek appropriate advice about the suitability of the information to their needs. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NSW Government, the Australian Government or the Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities or the NSW Minister for the Environment, or the Administrative Authority for Ramsar in Australia. This information does not create a policy position to be applied in statutory decision-making. Further it does not provide assessment of any particular action within the meaning of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, nor replace the role of the Minister or his delegate in making an informed decision on any action. This report is not a substitute for professional advice, rather it is intended to inform professional opinion by providing the authors’ assessment of available evidence on change in ecological character. This information is provided without prejudice to any final decision by the Administrative Authority for Ramsar in Australia on change in ecological character in accordance with the requirements of Article 3.2 of the Ramsar Convention. Users should obtain any appropriate professional advice relevant to their particular circumstances. Acknowledgements This document has been compiled with the help of many people in NSW Government agencies, and other people with expertise in ecology, hydrology and geomorphology. Those people include Barry Lamph, Dr Kim Jenkins (UNSW), Jo Smith (ecological consultant), Prof Richard Kingsford (UNSW), Dr Silke Nebel (UNSW), Kate Brandis (UNSW), Dr Kerrylee Rogers (OEH), Bill Johnson (MDBA), Dr Timothy Ralph (Macquarie University), Alison Curtin (OEH), Debbie Love (OEH), Sharon Bowen (OEH) and Rob Smith (OEH). Funding was provided by the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (now Office of Environment and Heritage) and the Commonwealth Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (now Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities). Symbols for conceptual models are courtesy of the Integration and Application Network (ian.umces.edu/symbols), University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Cover photos (clockwise from main photo) River red gum, northern Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve (©OEH) Green tree frog (Bill Johnson, ©OEH) Reed bed and red gums, northern Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve (Jeff Hillan, ©OEH) Wavy marsh wort (Bill Johnson, ©OEH) © State of NSW, Office of Environment and Heritage, Department of Premier and Cabinet. The Office of Environment and Heritage and the State of NSW are pleased to allow this material to be reproduced, for educational or non-commercial use, in whole or in part, provided the meaning is unchanged and its source, publisher and authorship are acknowledged. Specific permission is required for the reproduction of photographs and other images. Published by: Office of Environment and Heritage NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet 59–61 Goulburn Street, Sydney PO Box A290, Sydney South, NSW 1232 Phone: (02) 9995 5000 (switchboard) 131 555 (environment information and publications requests) 1300 361 967 (national parks, climate change and energy efficiency information and publications requests) Fax: (02) 9995 5999 TTY: (02) 9211 4723 Email: [email protected] Website: www.environment.nsw.gov.au ISBN 978 1 74293 703 8 OEH 2012/0517 July 2012 Printed on recycled paper Contents Summary iii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Site details 1 1.2 Purpose of the ecological character description 3 1.3 Relevant treaties, legislation and policies 4 2 Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site 6 2.1 Location 6 2.2 Ramsar criteria 11 2.3 Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve wetland types in 1986 16 3 Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve ecosystem components and processes in 1986 20 3.1 Soils 20 3.2 Physiochemical – water 20 3.3 Wetland vegetation 21 3.4 Aquatic invertebrates 24 3.5 Fish 28 3.6 Frogs 29 3.7 Reptiles 30 3.8 Birds 30 3.9 Mammals 37 3.10 Climate 38 3.11 Geomorphology 39 3.12 Hydrology – water distribution 41 3.13 Hydrology – flow regime 43 3.14 Hydrology – groundwater 46 3.15 Energy and nutrient cycling 47 4 Ecosystem benefits and services 48 5 Critical ecosystem components, processes, benefits and services 52 5.1 Wetland types and vegetation 52 5.2 Aquatic ecological community 52 5.3 Birds 55 5.4 Provisioning service – primary production 55 5.5 Supporting service – threatened species and communities 55 6 Macquarie Marshes conceptual models 57 7 Limits of acceptable change 61 Ecological character description – Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve and U-block components i 8 Threats to the Macquarie Marshes 70 8.1 Current water management – water availability 71 8.2 Current water management – water allocation 71 8.3 Current water management – river regulation 72 8.4 Water management structures – river and floodplain 72 8.5 Water management structures – Burrendong dam 73 8.6 Increasing salinity 74 8.7 Clearing 75 8.8 Fire management 75 8.9 Pest management 76 8.10 Climate change 76 8.11 Lack of understanding of complex systems 77 9 Changes since Ramsar listing 78 9.1 Northern section of the Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve component of the Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site 78 9.2 Southern section of the Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve component of the Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site 82 9.3 U-block component of the Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site 84 9.4 Fish 85 9.5 Aquatic invertebrates 86 9.6 Hydrological change – flow regime 87 9.7 Geomorphological change 89 9.8 Waterbird breeding 89 9.9 Meeting Ramsar criteria in 2010 89 9.10 Changes to the Ramsar site boundary and area 92 10 Knowledge gaps 93 11 Identifying Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve monitoring needs 96 12 Communication, education, participation and awareness (CEPA) 98 Abbreviations 100 Glossary 101 References 105 Appendix 1: Plant species recorded in the Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve 117 Appendix 2: Animal species recorded in the Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve 128 Appendix 3: Curricula vitae of authors 142 ii Macquarie Marshes Ramsar Site Summary This ecological character description (ECD) is for the Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve and U-block components of the Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site. The ECD has been developed in accordance with the National framework and guidance for describing the ecological character of Australia’s Ramsar wetlands (DEWHA 2008). A separate ECD for the Wilgara wetland was prepared in 2005 (Biosis Research 2006). Under the Ramsar Convention, ecological character is the combination of the ecosystem components, processes and benefits/services that characterise the wetland at ‘a given point in time’, which is usually taken to be the time the site was listed as a Wetland of International Importance. The Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve and U-block were both part of the Ramsar site when it was listed in 1986, which is therefore the baseline for this ECD. The Macquarie Marshes are located on the lower floodplain of the Macquarie River in central western NSW. The Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve and U-block are about 100 km north of Warren and 30 km west of Quambone. When listed in 1986, the site was named the Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve Ramsar site and comprised three separate areas: a northern section and a southern section currently referred to as the northern and southern nature reserve, with a total area of 18,192 hectares; and U-block, with an area of 197.5 ha (including a road reserve). U-block is now privately owned but the road reserve through U-block will be excluded from the Ramsar site in the updated Ramsar Information Sheet (RIS). In 2000, part of the privately owned property ‘Wilgara’ comprising 583 ha was added, and the Ramsar site was renamed the Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site. In 2012 the property ‘Creswell’, which is a recent addition to the nature reserve, was added to the Ramsar site. Altogether the Ramsar site covers about 10 per cent of the greater Macquarie Marshes. The Macquarie Marshes are one of the largest freshwater wetlands in the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB). The ecological system contains a variety of wetland types, ranging from semi-permanent and frequently inundated marshes to ephemeral wetlands inundated by only the largest floods. Core areas of semi-permanent wetlands occur within the nature reserve. They include river red gum forests and woodlands and common reed reed beds which are fed by overbank flooding from many small channels. The Marshes are one of the MDB’s most biologically diverse wetland systems and support some of the largest waterbird breeding events in Australia (Macquarie Marshes Investigation Committee 1951; Marchant & Higgins 1990; Kingsford & Auld 2005). They provide essential breeding and feeding habitat for hundreds